Harry Styles has sparked criticism from fans after posing for photos while wearing a Native American headdress.

The One Direction frontman posted a picture of himself wearing the traditional piece on his Instagram.com page on Thursday and fans responded to the photo with mixed reactions.

Some felt the action was thoughtless, with one fan tweeting, "cultural appropriation is not nice, regardless of context or intent. let's leave it at that."

The devotee added, "i don't think he was trying to be hurtful or offensive. i'm just trying to point out the bigger issue, because people are trying to downplay it to protect him. i love harry and i'm sure he's not racist but we shouldn't turn a blind eye."

However, many of Styles' loyal followers jumped to his defence.

One wrote, "Oh so these days you can't wear different things from other peoples cultures without getting called racist? Cool. Idiots."

Another added, "lets not get started about him wearing a hat (headpiece) and you not being okay with it. There are worse things happening in the world, get over it."

The 20 year old has yet to respond to the controversy but the picture has since been removed from his page.